ASKAP News Archive 2014

A MkII PAF in the workshop is in the foreground of the photo, with people in the background.

Highlights and achievements of 2014, December 2014
What a year it has been for ASKAP, with many highlights throughout the year in early science and commissioning activities, significant advancement of ASKAP technological development, and progress in SKA pre-construction R&D activities. Read more.

Widefield continuum and polarisation capabilities demonstrated with BETA, December 2014
The ASKAP team has successfully demonstrated widefield continuum imaging with the ASKAP phased array feed (PAF) receivers installed on the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA); the image files are now available for interested users. Read more.

ASKAP wins national innovation award, November 2014
ASKAP has taken home the overall prize in the Australian Innovation Challenge Awards, with judges recognising the telescope as “one of those advances that keeps Australia on the global innovation map”. Read more.

ASKAP streams in to Supercomputing 2014, November 2014
This week, delegates of the Supercomputing 2014 (SC14) conference in New Orleans had a chance to (virtually) visit the MRO and chat with ASKAP team members via a series of live links between the exhibition hall and the Science Operations Centre at the CASS headquarters in Sydney. Read more.

Industry collaboration leads to big things, November 2014
Through the ASKAP project, CSIRO is working with Puzzle Precision, a a quality, high-reliability electronic assembly service, to jointly develop and produce sophisticated electronic circuit boards and major components of the telescope's digital systems. Read more.

Wajarri Yamatji people partner with CSIRO, November 2014
The Wajarri Yamatji people of Western Australia and CSIRO have been engaged in a strong partnership as part of the ASKAP telescope project, located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) on Wajarri Yamatji country. Read more.

ASKAP a finalist in national awards, October 2014
ASKAP has been named a finalist in this year’s The Australian Innovation Challenge awards, for the Manufacturing, Construction and Infrastructure category. Read more.

ASKAP user community workshops ideas, October 2014
Members of the ASKAP Science Survey Teams and other potential ASKAP users met this week at the Marsfield headquarters of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science in a one-day workshop to discuss the next steps for ASKAP in the transition to a full telescope system. Read more.

"The sun never sets on the SKA", October 2014
In what has been called “the largest ever gathering of people working on the international SKA project”, some 300 engineers and scientists recently gathered in Fremantle, WA, to progress the development of the international SKA telescope and make the project a reality. Read more.

New BETA image demonstrates rapid survey capability of ASKAP, September 2014
An image has been generated with the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA) that covers 50 square degrees of the sky, revealing approximately 2000 sources and demonstrating the rapid survey capability of ASKAP. Read more.

Engineers and scientists gather for SKA Engineering Meeting, September 2014
Some 300 engineers and scientists from 15 countries have travelled to Fremantle, Western Australia, to take part in the largest gathering of people working on the international SKA telescope project ever organised. Read more.

Mk II PAF pre-production underway, September 2014
At the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science lab in Sydney, pre-production of the first eight Mk II phased array feed systems is now underway. Read more.

Steerable beams create flexible 'footprints', September 2014
The flexibility of the PAF has been demonstrated by a variety of BETA observations using different shaped 'beam footprints'; recently BETA was used to image a galaxy group using a diamond-shaped pattern to maximise HI detections. Read more.

Second generation ASKAP PAF installed at the MRO, September 2014
The first full-size Mk II PAF receiver has been installed on ASKAP Antenna 29 at the MRO, marking a new milestone in the development of CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope. Read more.

BETA demonstrates clear benefits of ASKAP antennas' third axis, September 2014
Observations of a standard test field containing numerous bright sources have been used to demonstrate the clear benefits of using the ASKAP antennas' third axis of rotation to significantly improve the achievable dynamic range of images. Read more.

Tests on new ASKAP PAF indicate impressive system temperature, August 2014
The first results from ground-based system tests on the full-size second generation (Mk II) phased array feed receiver have indicated impressive system temperature across the ASKAP band. Read more.

Latest Commissioning Update reflects successful BETA activities, August 2014
Fantastic results continue to stream out from the six-antenna ASKAP engineering test array at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Read more.

System tests underway on Mk II PAF at the MRO, August 2014
Initial ground-based system tests on the first full-size Mk II phased array feed receiver for ASKAP will generate valuable system performance data at the MRO. Read more.

First VLBI observations achieved with ASKAP PAF, July 2014
Promising results have been achieved from the first VLBI observations between an ASKAP phased array feed (PAF) receiver and the Australian LBA. Read more.

CASDA prepares for ASKAP data, July 2014
Over the coming year, a special team is working to develop and build an archive that will manage and serve the key datasets from ASKAP. Read more.

BETA commissioning probes hydrogen across the distant universe, July 2014
ASKAP commissioning activities have produced a new BETA spectrum that demonstrates the ability of the telescope to probe a large range of redshift space. Read more.

Final verification tests lead to Mk II PAF deployment, July 2014
The ASKAP team is now on the verge of deploying the Mk II prototype phased array feed (PAF) to the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) for ground aperture array testing. Read more.

MRO prepares for the second generation ASKAP receiver, June 2014
At the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia, the ASKAP team is busily preparing the site for ground aperture array tests with the first of the second generation (Mk II) ASKAP receiver systems. Read more.

Early images of the sky reflect progress in BETA commissioning, June 2014
New images of the sky show that CSIRO's ASKAP is functioning as an aperture-synthesis telescope after just a few months of commissioning. Read more.

CASS and AAL announce PAF funding, June 2014
CSIRO and Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL) are pleased to announce funding has been secured to enable ASKAP to be equipped with a total of 30 Mk II PAFs, six of which will be installed on the central BETA antennas currently fitted with Mk I PAFs. Read more.

Collaboration is key for SKA pre-construction work, May 2014
CSIRO is working with representatives of the NRC and ASTRON to undertake a collaborative measurement program using three different receiver element designs as part of SKA pre-construction work. Read more.

ASKAP team gets 'busy', May 2014
As part of ASKAP commissioning and early science activities, the ASKAP team is holding regular ‘busy days’ to aid ASKAP verification work and progress commissioning of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA). Read more.

New BETA image points to ASKAP imaging potential, May 2014
A new image using the 6-antenna ASKAP test array at the MRO has been produced, indicating the excellent potential of the ASKAP imaging capabilities. Read more.

SKA DG visits CASS, May 2014
Director General of the SKA visited Australia, dropping in to the Geraldton and Sydney offices of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science for an update on ASKAP progress. Read more.

Full end-to-end tests underway with Mk II PAF system, April 2014
Successful end-to-end tests are underway with the second generation phased array feed (PAF) system onsite at the Sydney headquarters of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. Read more.

Visualisation tool assists remote commissioning, April 2014
A visualisation tool developed by the ASKAP Computing team has provided essential support to the recent commissioning successes with BETA. Read more.

ASKAP produces first spectral line 'data cube', April 2014
CSIRO's ASKAP team has this week produced the first spectral line image using six ASKAP antennas installed with innovative PAF receiver systems, as part of ongoing commissioning tests at the MRO in Western Australia. Read more.

ASKAP links live to ICRI2014, April 2014
The advantage of remote accessibility to the MRO was demonstrated during a live cross to ICRI2014, via the CASS headquarters in Sydney. Read more.

First 15-baseline BETA observation, March 2014
The ASKAP team has this week achieved the first 15-baseline observation using six ASKAP antennas and the newly reconfigured hardware correlator at the MRO. Read more.

UK announcement great news for SKA, March 2014
From the international SKA Office, comes news of an announcement by the UK Science Minister, David Willetts, of £100 million funding for the international SKA project. Read more.

ASKAP welcomes ministerial visit to MRO, March 2014
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and UK Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts visited CSIRO's MRO to learn more about Australia's role in the international SKA project. Read more.

ASKAP correlator reconfiguration creates testing platform for BETA, February 2014
The ASKAP hardware correlator at the MRO has been reconfigured from two simultaneous 3-antenna sub-arrays to a single 6-antenna interferometer, creating the first stable BETA commissioning and testing platform. Read more.

ASKAP simulations show idealised images of the sky, February 2014
In preparation for early science with ASKAP, the ASKAP Central Processor at the iVEC Pawsey Centre is now being put through its paces. Read more.

First continuum image achieved with six ASKAP antennas, February 2014
The first continuum image has been achieved using six ASKAP antennas during commissioning at the MRO in Western Australia. Read more.

'Galaxy' goes live at the iVEC Pawsey Centre, February 2014
The ASKAP Central Processor at the iVEC Pawsey Centre has officially gone 'live', allowing the team access to the supercomputer to support ASKAP commissioning activities at the MRO. Read more.

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